“I can tell you why IN-7 wasn’t mentioned, as Miss Ping is a desultory opponent who last reported having $0 in the bank against Carson. You can’t win with squat.”
And no one else running had much more than that.
Running a traditional campaign against Carson isn’t going to work.
He has something like $1.2Mil in the bank. and by snapping his fingers, can call on SEIU and the shadow orgs to throw another mil at him by the end of the day. The local media doesn’t DARE say a word against him, less they become unemployed.
This is going to require guerrilla campaigning. (ever heard of “Guerrilla Marketing”?). And if there was ever a year you could pull it off, it is this one.
The last time this seat was won was in 1972 (and that by William Hudnut when it was the 11th). There have been some valiant attempts: notably by Black Republican Marvin Bailey Scott in 1994 (when he had little money and no party support, and it scared Andy Jacobs out of running again) and Julia Carson was never popular, with her opponents routinely scoring in the mid 40%s range. Her worst performance was her last race in 2006 when 5,000 votes would’ve swung the election to another Black Republican, Eric Dickerson.
Unfortunately, aside from his first run in the 2008 Special, Andre’s opponents have only scored 35, 38 & 37% respectively (with the aforementioned Marvin Scott scoring that 38% in 2010). Ping may be lucky to get to the low 30s, perhaps a smidge higher, solely on the bloc of voters that find Andre an offensive politician and would vote for a walrus running on the GOP ticket. A well-funded, higher profile nominee might break 40%+, but it would take a miracle otherwise.
The IN GOP drew the lines to ensure a commanding 7R-2D advantage, and that, alas, is the price for the bulk of Indianapolis’s residents (and the NW corner of the state near Chicago).